Field testing of telephone and/or telecommunication lines is commonly performed by use of compact handheld telephone line testing devices, which are commonly referred to as buttsets. As depicted in Prior Art FIGS. 1 and 2, such a buttset 1 may have an overall appearance like a bulky old style telephone receiver with a central thin handle connecting two opposite and more massive end portions. A prior art buttset 1 may include well known testing circuitry, power supply, display, keyboard and switches omitted in the Figs. for clarity. A prior art buttset 1 is commonly connected to well known test terminals via one or more dangling test cable 7 and dangling test connector 9. The dangling test cable 7 is connected to well known test circuitry inside the buttset 1 and extends out of the buttset 1 interior through a strain relieve 8, which in turn is fixed in a cable outlet 3 of the housing 4, 5. The strain relieve 8 transfers externally induced test cable 7 strains and loads onto the housing.
Between uses, the loosely hanging test cable 7 is commonly wrapped around the buttset 1 housing 4, 5. While loosely wrapped around the housing 4, 5, the cable 7 is heavily exposed to wear and damage during handling and transportation. It also may easily fall of the buttset 1 making it time consuming to unwrap it for the next job. In addition, the repeated bending strain on the dangling test cable 7 in the vicinity of the strain relieve 8 introduces additional wear and unpredictable breaking of the test cable 7. Moreover and as observed by the present inventor, buttset 1 operators commonly tend to speed up the unwinding of the wrapped up test cable 7 by simply dropping the buttset 1 while holding the test connector 9. While the buttset 1 accelerates towards the ground, it spins the wrapped test cable 7 free to its full length. At the moment the test cable 7 is straightened out, the buttset 1 may be abruptly stopped from its free fall while the test cable 7 may be exposed to tremendous sudden tensile loads.
There have been repeated design attempts made in the industry to enforce the strain relief 8 and its connection with the housing 4, 5 to deal with the above explained test cable's 7 excessive strains and loads. Nevertheless, simply structurally enforcing the strain relief 8 and its housing 4, 5 connection does not eliminate the source of the excessive test cable 7 loads and strains. Therefore, there exists a need for an apparatus that reduces the risks of unpredictable failure of the test cable 7 commonly related to repeated wrapping around the buttset 1 and any other mishandling related to the loosely hanging of the test cable 7 as explained above. The present invention addresses these needs.
A buttset is an expensive electronic device. Therefore, there exists also a need for an accessory that may be conveniently assembled on existing buttsets an that provides compact housing and ergonomic access to the test cable. The present invention addresses also this need.